The Rebel
by squallrinoa22
Summary: After being kicked out of numerous schools, Rinoa has been send to Balamb Garden Military Prep School by her father. Why is she such a rebel? No seriously please just read, it's my first fic. RinoaxSquall
1. Chapter 1

**Yeah so this is my first fanfiction ever so cut me some slack k? And yes I know Rinoa is out of character but that will change soon so trust me. Please review because I aim to have this story continue for a while and I know my writing is far from perfect so help me provide so a more enjoyable reading experience. Oh, and I don't own Final Fantasy 8, its characters, locations or any other affiliated properties. Square-Enix does however.**

"God, I really don't want to be here" Chapter 1

BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP-BLEEP

"Rinoa get up" a voice ordered over the sound of the wailing alarm clock.

"Ugh, c'mon Caraway, do you have ANY idea what time it is?"

"Yes, it's 6:15 in the morning and if you're not downstairs ready to go to class in a half hour then you're grounded"

Rinoa just waved him out of the room. _"Right" _she thought, _"today's the day I get to completely bore myself to death at that military school. Why does he have to send me there? It's not like what I did was THAT bad"_.

After a quick shower, some toast, an argument about Rinoa's choice of attire, they were in the car driving from the town of Balamb to the nearby Balamb Garden Military Prep Academy. Being bored, Rinoa decided to reread a pamphlet from the school, _"Balamb Garden offers children a chance to learn discipline and responsibility through its unique SeeD program. By combining the regular high school curriculum with advanced military training, Balamb Garden can turn even the most uncouth child into a respectable member of society"._

"_Pfft, uh-huh I give them a week" _Rinoa thought to herself with a big smile.

The school was now visible in Rinoa's as the car drew closer to its destination. Caraway took the opportunity to talk. "Now Rinoa, I expect you to be on your best behaviour here. The headmaster is an old friend of mine and he was the only one that would take you after what you did in Deling so…"

Rinoa was tuning her father out; she had heard this talk too many times before, how she was to not cause any trouble and pretend to be Daddy's little girl. She has had enough of it. "Yeah yeah, whatever Caraway, I'll be good" she lied through her teeth.

Now idling beside the school, Caraway muttered an "I love you" right as Rinoa slammed the car door in his face. _"Finally, I was getting sick of hearing that man's voice" _she thought as she walked up the stairs towards the front gate, but she was suddenly stopped at the gate by an old man behind some glass in a booth.

"What's your name?" he asked very bored like.

"I'm Rinoa Heartilly" Rinoa said back in an equally bored voice.

"Heartilly, Heartilly…" she muttered as he moved his finger down a list on a clipboard. "No, there's no Rinoa Heartilly on my list, have a Rinoa Caraway…"

_"Damn old man"_, "Yeah that's me".

"Well well, the headmaster requested that you go to his office immediately after getting here so you should probably go do that, his office is on the third floor, just take the elevator" the man in the booth said, slightly more amused now and without so much as a thank you, she walked off to the elevator".

_"What the hell does the headmaster want to see me for?" _she questioned herself while riding the elevator up, "_Oh right, he's friends with the old man, which means he's heard all about Daddy's little disappointment"._

After waiting a good twenty minutes, she was finally told she could go see the headmaster. While leaning in to open the door, someone else opened it from the other side causing her to fall inside. The person opening the door was a boy that looked no older then Rinoa with chestnut brown hair covering his face with the exception of his bright blue eyes. "Watch where you're walking" he said as he walked off towards the elevator.

_"Bastard" _Rinoa thought to herself while walking in the office, _"Well he has no idea who he just pissed off so I'll just have to let him know" _

"Ah Ms. Caraway, please have a seat" the man said as he waved his hand over to the chair in the middle of his office.

Rinoa was not listing to anything the man was saying after he introduced himself as Cid. She could hardly care what the rules where, it's not like she was going to be there long before they kicked her out.

"Now Ms. Caraway, here is your timetable, your first class is weapons training on the second floor. It is a SeeD level course so it would be wise to not be late. Do you have any questions?" Cid asked with a half smile on his face.

"Not a question but…my name isn't Caraway, it's Heartilly so why don't you use it old man" Rinoa said as she left the room, only to look at to see Cid's smile had disappeared while she smiled herself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay so far so good right? Here in chapter two I hope to introduce some of the other characters, including more Squall so I hope you're as excited as I am. Also a special thanks goes out to ****General Wyvern for being my first and only reviewer thus far, you are very much appreciated and I'll try my very best to maintains the character's personalities while making my story unique from my favourites with I have read on the site. So please enjoy and if it's not too much trouble, please review: not only will it inspire me to continue with the story but I would love to have the readers help me build my writing throughout. Thanks again!**

**Chapter 2 "Who the hell does this bastard think he is?"**

After leaving Cid's office with timetable in hand, Rinoa glanced at her classes in immediate disgust. _"What the hell are these stupid classes anyway?"_ she thought to herself on her way down the elevator to the second floor, _"…Weapons Training, Advanced Battlefield Mathematics, History of Warfare and I don't even want to know what the hell Civil Conduct and Responsibilities is, y'know what? Forget class, I'm gonna go play hooky". _

She was about to hit the "close" button on the elevator when someone stuck their hand into the elevator, stopping the door. When the door opened back up, Rinoa saw a women wearing an instructor's uniform with held up blonde hair and very professional looking classes. _"Damn…" _Rinoa thought.

"Ah Ms. Caraway, it is very nice to see you as you are about twenty minutes late for my class and I was beginning to think you got lost" the instructor said in an assertive yet calm voice to Rinoa's surprise, "You would do best to not let it happen again now come with me now".

Rinoa was completely caught off guard by the awareness of the instructor. It was her first day and she already knew what she looked like and that she was supposed to be in class that day. _"Damn teacher, this place is looking more like a prison then a school. Back in Deling, those pathetic excuses for teachers couldn't find a skipping student standing right in front of them, and she got my name wrong to, this is going to be a long day."_

The instructor led Rinoa into a classroom full of students sitting at desks that at computer monitors attached to them, but were arranged similar to that of her old chemistry lab back in Deling, not that she remembered it to well as she was hardly there for class. She looked for an empty set somewhere in the room and surveyed some of the students there as well. The only two empty seats were in the back however and when Rinoa got a glimpse of who was sitting back there, she instantly wanted to go and yell at him. Sitting alone, leaning forward and looking down was the guy who made her fall upstairs. _"Perfect, I get to get even with that asshole sooner than I expected" _Rinoa thought as she strategically placed herself in the seat parallel to him that was beside another guy with short blonde hair who instantly grinned the second Rinoa sat down.

"Now as you know, weapon selections are this Friday but before you can select your weapon, a Weapon Personality Test and a Safe Practise and Handling Test will be taken on Thursday" the instructor began, "those who fail either test will be at a serious disadvantage in this course…"

"_Ugh, I've heard enough, I'm so bored already" _Rinoa complained to herself in vain.

"Hey there babe" the blonde guy whispered to Rinoa, "What's your name?"

"I'm not interested" Rinoa snapped back.

"Awww, c'mon babe, don't be like that, here I'll tell you my name first, it's Seifer Almasy and before you start asking yourself, yes I am single" Seifer added with a cocky smirk.

_"God, why me? Bet this guy thinks I'm just any other girl he can screw and dump…well I'll show him". "_Look" Rinoa began, "I don't care who you are or if you're single or not, you leave me alone and I don't sack you right here in front of everyone, got it"?

"Ouch babe, that's cold, you and Leonhart should buddy up the way you're talking right now" Seifer said while still smirking, "Oh but I forgot puberty boy over there doesn't do girls quite yet, maybe when he's a bit older".

Rinoa then clued in to who Seifer was talking about, the guy who caused her to fall. When she was thinking of a way to get him back, the bell sounded and the students all began to leave, but the guy Rinoa knew as "Leonhart" immediately made his way to the instructor. After a short conversation between the two, the instructor called Rinoa over.

"Ms. Caraway…",_"Tch…"_, "Mr. Leonhart here has just told me that you were talking the whole class and not paying any attention to my lesson, distracting Mr. Leonhart considerably. You will have detention with me after school where you will make up the class with me" the instructor announced to Rinoa.

_"Wha-, who the hell does this bastard think he is? He could have easily ignored me and I was hardly talking for over two minutes! This guy has a death wish!" _Rinoa angrily told herself.

"Sure whatever you say" Rinoa quickly said as she went to go chase down Leonhart in the hallway.

"Hey you bastard, what the hell is your problem?" Rinoa yelled at him.

"None of your business" he curtly replied.

"None of my… hey screw you! Do you have any idea how much of an asshole you are?"

"Whatever…" Leonhart muttered as he turned his back to Rinoa and continued to walk down the hallway.

_"This guy is gonna pay! I'm gonna get him back so bad he is gonna wish he never screwed with Rinoa Heartilly!"_

**So was it good? Bad? In between? Let me know, review review review! And I'll quickly get the nest chapter up regardless 'cause I know you're just dying to see how Rinoa's revenge plot is going to go!**

**Cheers!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hiya there! I'm gonna attempt a really long chapter here to tide everyone over for a while so no more 800 word short chapter stuff. Also, I'm going to try to bring in more characters and midway through the chapter is going to change from Rinoa's point of view, to Squall and back to Rinoa. And lastly, please please review, I would love to hear from my readers. Thanks**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**Chapter 3- "What the hell is this girl's problem?"**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

Rinoa just stood in disbelief as Leonhart walked down the hallway without turning back once. Sure, she had done some bad things but she was never so completely a jerk to someone. Fuming, Rinoa walked down the hall to go to her next class which sounded even worse than the last one, Advanced Battlefield Math. _"Just kill me now Hyne, please just kill me now!" _Rinoa thought to herself but before she could calm down, as she was turning in the hallway to go to the elevator, someone ran into her, knocking her to the ground. _"Not again! Who the fu-…?"_

"Ohh man, are you okay?" a female voice cut Rinoa's thoughts off, "I'm such a damn klutz, I'm soooo sorry!"

Rinoa was taken aback at how apologetic the girl was. Compared to Leonhart, this girl was a saint. Taking a quick glance at the girl, she first noticed the girl's odd hair style which was medium length brown that went down straight until it flipped up at the end. She was also wearing a really loose yellow dress that seemed to hide her slender build. "Its okay, no harm done" Rinoa smiled as she picked herself up.

"Whoa, wait! Were you in Instructor Trepe's weapons class?" the girl asked and Rinoa nodded. "It's not over…is it?"

"Yeah uhh… you just missed it" Rinoa replied.

"Ugh, nooooooo way, not again, Old Man Cid is gonna kill me!" the girl moaned, "It's my first week here and I've been late every day!"

"I'm new here too, it's my first day"

"What's your name?"

"Rinoa Heartilly"

"Nice to meet 'cha Rinoa, name's Selphie" she said as she put her hand out for a very enthusiastic handshake, "Since we're both new here, we should stick together so we don't get lost, two brains are better than one!"

"Alright, you have math next?" Rinoa asked.

"Lemme check…surrrree do!" Selphie cheerily responded.

"Alright then, let's go!" Rinoa replied in an equality cheerily voice.

_"Maybe today won't be so bad after all"_

On the way to their math class on the first floor, Rinoa and Selphie got to know each other very quickly. Rinoa found out that Selphie was sent to Balamb because she set fire to her school in Trabia and her parents had enough hence sending her to military school. While walking down the first floor hallway, the conversation suddenly became about Rinoa. "So what did you do to get sent to this godforsaken place?" Selphie asked.

"Oh, haha, well lots of things really. See my old man is a big shot from the Galbadian military so when I was going to my private school up in Deling, a big V.I.P came over from Timber to talk to the school for some huge propaganda thing to make us support Galbadia's occupation and well… my friends and I completely stood there with Timber flags on the stage and whenever the man would try to come out, we'd throw chocobo eggs at him. Well surprise surprise, old man Caraway was there and well…yeah".

"Really that was you?!?" Selphie said far too loudly when there were walking in the room and then she went to a whisper, "That was on the news for days! Awww man that's awesome.

Before Rinoa could explain herself, the instructor shut them up and sent them to their seats. Selphie was sitting alone in the back and after taking a quick survey around, she didn't see the blonde arrogant jerk or Leonhart anywhere. _"Thank Hyne" _she thought.

Class went far too slowly for Rinoa's liking, math was here worst subject and being in an advanced SeeD level math course was not going to make things any easier for her. Luckily the bell rang, saving her from the awful torment of math for lunch. Selphie led the way to the cafeteria and Rinoa followed diligently trying not to get lost in the big place and finally sitting down at a table with other people who, by the look on Selphie's face, appeared to be her friends.

"Who the fucks the new girl?" a blonde haired guy asked.

"Hey hey, don't be swearing in front of lady, it's rude" another guy wearing a cowboy hat said as he pulled a seat up for Rinoa. "So what's your name darling?"

"Leave Rinny alone Irvine! Can't you think about anything other than where you want to stick your dick for five minutes? Selphie snapped.

"Easy Sefie, I'm just being friendly is all" Irvine said with a really pouty face and disappointed voice.

Rinoa was sitting in silence listening to the trio bicker before being formally introduced by Selphie. The guy in the cowboy getup was Irvine, who was sent there after a "hunting mishap" where while hunting for wild game, he "accidently shot his father in the arm". "Damn old man was in my shot but he overreacted and sent me to this prison, though with you here Rinoa, things are getting immensely bette-"Irvine said before getting smacked in the back of the head by Selphie.

On the other hand, Zell the blonde boy was every bit as mouthy as he was friendly. Though he swore almost every sentence, Rinoa really liked him. Zell was sent there because of all the constant fighting he did around Balamb. "Y'know I would be Balamb High if my Ma didn't have to sent me here" Zell explained, "A Judge told her it was either this of prison".

_"These seem like my kind of people" _Rinoa thought, _"Not like those damn preps from Deling"_

Rinoa talked very happily to the group until something caught her eye. Looking over, she noticed Leonhart walk into the cafeteria alone and get in line. "That's the bastard who got me detention today" Rinoa announced to the group.

"Who? Squall? Haha yeah that fucking sounds like him!" Zell said while laughing.

"You guys know him?" Rinoa asked as she was interested in learning about her revenge target. First rule of pranking is to know you're enemy.

"Not really, Squall is a big loner here. He's the only guy here that actually wants to be here" Selphie said "Guy is gonna be an actual SeeD soon. Why so curious Rinny? First day here and already found yourself a little crush?"

"Pfft please Selphie. No, I want revenge but I think I may need some help, you guys in?" Rinoa asked the trio.

"Whoa, you're cute and everything but do you have any idea what you're asking us to do?" Irvine nervously said, "Squall Leonhart is a legend here; I've only been here for a month and the guy scares me".

"Yeah Rin, you would have to have a death wish to want to fuck with Squall" Zell chirped in.

"Why are you guys so afraid of him?" Rinoa asked.

"Well no one really knows anything about Squall's past Rin" Selphie began to explain, "Aside from the fact that he was sent here from Esther, nobody knows anything. Of course that doesn't stop people from spreading rumours. I heard that he killed a guy in Esther.

"That's all the more reason to go and get the murdering bastard!" Rinoa proclaimed jokingly knowing that there was no way the Garden would let a murderer in but the looks on the trio's face didn't change from their frightened look.

"Alright Rin we'll help you but that's only because we're afraid of Squall might do to you if he catches you" Selphie gave in, "What did you have in mind?"

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Squall walked into the cafeteria just like he did every day: alone, and that was the way he liked it. _"People are far too loud for their own good" _he thought to himself as he walked in. He took a quick survey of his surroundings before getting in line to get his usual, hot beef sandwich, no gravy, when something caught his eye. _"Is that the annoying girl from this morning? Why the hell is she looking at me? Hyne, what the hell is this girl's problem? *sigh*, whatever". _

Now sitting down in the back of the room with his food alone and as far as possible from everyone else, he noticed the girl repeatedly glancing at him and turning away while talking to her friends_. "I'm not so damn interesting so stop looking at me for Hyne's sake! Wait, why do I care if she's looking at me or not? C'mon Squall, get it together"._

Because Squall was so focused on not thinking about the girl staring at him, he didn't see Seifer and his posse approach from the other side of him. "Hey there puberty boy, you owe me a rematch for last week" Seifer said.

"Seifer's got something special y'know? There is no way you are gonna win this time y'know?" said Rajin, the big dark man standing on Seifer's right.

"DEFEAT" said the odd girl named Fujin standing on Seifer's left.

_"Why do I have to waste my time with these morons?" _"Whatever, same time and place, don't be late" Squall muttered.

_"This is going to be a long day"_

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The plan was set and ready to be implemented. After her detention, Rinoa met up Zell and Selphie who were waiting for her outside the Garden. Irvine had been tailing Squall ever since school ended so Selphie could just call him on her cell so they can track down Squall. "Alright guys so let's go over the plan again" Rinoa said.

_Rinoa's Masterful Plan for making that big meanie bastard Squall pay_

_Find Squall when he's out in public_

_Have Selphie say "You got to help me, my friend is being attacked!" to him_

_Squall will come running to help but before getting there, Rinoa trips Squall down the largest flight of stairs in Balamb_

_VICTORY!_

"Y'know Squall is gonna fucking kill you right?" Zell asked

"Doesn't matter, I'm gonna get him back" Rinoa answered.

Irvine called the trio to tell them that Squall had just left his house after picking up a very large black crate and he began to walk downtown. Taking twenty minutes to drive down there in Selphie's car, they met up with Irvine and had Squall in their sights. "Why is he just sitting there?" Rinoa asked.

"Who know but are we gonna do this?" Irvine answered her.

But before Rinoa could answer Squall stood up and Rinoa instantly thought that Squall had overheard them, but her fears were defused when the blonde boy from her weapons class walked up to him, surrounded by two people she had never seen before, and also carrying a very odd black case. She couldn't hear what they were saying but saw has the two opened they're boxes to take out swords.

"Shit, are they gonna fuckin' fight right downtown here!" Zell asked.

"Hey I think those are gunblades" Irvine said.

"Wha-how can you tell?" Selphie asked.

"Because Selphie, in life my two specialties are guns and women"

The duel between the blonde boy and Squall was starting to heat up as Rinoa watched in awe. The blonde was using a one handed sword (gunblade as Irvine called it) to manage to block all of Squall's attacks will Squall was obviously getting tired from matching the blondes speed with his heaver two handed weapon. After numerous exchanges, the blonde finally knocked Squall back a couple feet but only for him to charge the blonde blade first. But before Squall could get within range, the blonde shot a fireball at him,

"Using fire magic in a sword duel? This guy is the biggest cheater ever!" Selphie said.

Squall looked to be totally out of it as he was trying to pick himself up off the ground. The blonde on the other hand was audibly laughing as he moved to make a finishing blow on Squall, slicing his face open, and spraying blood everywhere. Rinoa thought she was going to gag the second she saw Squall's blood but what really pushed her over the edge was seeing the blonde start to bleed to when Squall counterattacked before collapsing.

The blonde laughed again as he motioned for his friends to leave with him and in that instant, Rinoa forgot all the ill feeling she had for Squall and ran to go help him.

_"Well that went well. I went to just go get him back and ended up watching him get sliced up by a manic with a sword…"_

_/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////_

_**Right so, really long chapter right? Hehe enjoy and review!**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi everyone! So I was playing around with my account settings and figured out how to see how much traffic the story was getting and I was completely floored. Just to highlight a few, I've had people from Germany, New Zealand, Vietnam, Singapore and Venezuela. I am so ecstatic that my writing is reaching such a large international audience but I digress. I'm hoping Chapter 4 will be twice as long as Chapter 3 and also, I feel I should give a shout out to n9neSTAR for suggesting the story BLEED IT OUT to me, I absolutely loved it. Well enough of my babbling, enjoy and as always please review!**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**Chapter 4 "…it's going to be okay…"**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

Squall was bleeding profusely when Rinoa and the others came to his side. He should of been barely able to keep conciseness let alone be sitting on one knee like he was but Rinoa couldn't focus. All the blood, the red sticky disgusting substance that poured out of Squall's face was smeared everywhere and Rinoa couldn't breathe. A soft voice echoed in her head while she sat frozen in the pool of blood.

"_Rin honey, everything is going to be okay. I love you"_

And then everything went black.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

_"Ugh…who the hell are these people?" _Squall questioned himself.

Squall knew it was only a matter of time before he finally collapsed from the blood loss. He had to get to a safe place, who knew how many people would try to take advantage of his weakened state and he didn't want to stick around to find out so he slowly rose to his feet.

He barely heard the voices around him; they all sounded the same to him.

"Hey man, we're calling an ambulance, just stay still" he faintly heard in the distance.

"Am..bulence? N…no don't…call" Squall managed to cough out. He couldn't afford to have the paramedics become involved. Because then the police would become involved and Squall couldn't have that. With the last ounces of strength he had, he began to force himself to walk forward. Everything was going smoothly until a sound stopped him. He looked ahead as the girl from this morning, sitting in a pool of his own blood, screamed a blood curdling scream before both of them blacked out.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Rinoa awoke very slowly to the biggest migraine she had ever had in a room that seemed completely white, except it was dark because dusk was looming on the horizon. Even in pain though, those words echoed in her head again.

"_What the hell was that?" _Rinoa thought to herself while struggling through the pain in her head, _"It looks like I'm in a hospital, what's going on?"_

Just then middle aged women in a doctor's coat walked into the room. She looked at Rinoa and simply sighed. "Well, it looks like you're awake; can you say your name for me?"

"Rinoa…Heartilly" she said while grasping her head.

"Hmm, here take these; they'll help with the migraine" the doctor said as she handed Rinoa what looked like to be aspirin. "You're lucky you're friends were with you or you would have been lying in Mr. Leonhart's blood for hours".

Rinoa's thoughts then instantly turned to Squall. "Is he okay? He didn't look so good".

"Mr. Leonhart is going to be fine, but right now I'd like to focus on you, I was going to wait until your father ca…" but then the doctor was suddenly cut off but a familiar voice.

"Dr. Kadowaki, you called me? I was in a very important meeting with the delegates from Esther so this had better be important" Caraway curtly said as he walked into the room.

"You called him!" Rinoa yelled, "Why the hell would you call him, he doesn't even give a damn about anything except himself and his stupid meetings!"

The doctor ignored Rinoa and turned her attention on telling Caraway why Rinoa was in the hospital. "Based off her symptoms her friend's described I believe she suffered from some kind of attack caused from PTSD".

"Uhh, what?" Rinoa asked.

"Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, …" _"Heartilly, Heartilly, HEARTILLY! When will these people learn?", _"…is a very serious mental disorder brought on by a very serious traumatic event, can you think of anything that may of caused this"?

"No, nothing" Rinoa said with absolute certainty.

"Okay, when I'm releasing you under the condition that you meat with me once a week for a psyche test, understood?" Kadowaki said with assertiveness.

"Wait; am I in the Garden infirmary?" Rinoa asked.

"Yes, Mr. Leonhart made sure that you both got here rather than Balamb General, Hyne knows why…" Kadowaki answered.

Rinoa left the infirmary with her "father" and was heading to the car when Caraway stopped her. "Where do you think you're going?" he sternly asked.

"Uhh, well I was thinking of going to play skip rope, while eating an ice cream cone" Rinoa answered with sarcasm drenching off every word. "I'm going to the car".

"No, you're not, you are staying here in the dormitories" Caraway answered in his matter-of-fact manner that pissed Rinoa off so much.

"So now you're kicking me out eh? Finally got sick and fucking tired of me? Well screw you old man, I don't need you anyway!" Rinoa yelled as she headed towards the direction of the dorms.

As she cooled down while walking, Rinoa realized that she actually had no idea what room was actually going to be hers. _"Oh well, I'll just ask around 'till I find it" _she concluded as she continued walking, cursing her "father's" name every inch of the way. She finally got to the dorms entrance when she was greeted by no other then Selphie.

"Rinny!!!" she exclaimed as she ran to give her new friend a huge jumping hug, "We were soooo worried about you, are you okay?"

"I'm fine Selphie" Rinoa said "Really" she had to say because Selphie's face didn't look like she 100% believed that she was actually okay.

"Well guess what Rinny? You and I are roommates! All your stuff has already been moved in, c'mon you should get some sleep" Selphie said.

"I will but uh… do you know if Squall stays here in the dorms, I want to see if he's okay" Rinoa asked.

"Hmmm, wanna check up on Squally eh?" Selphie asked with a wink and a nudge.

"Oh whatever Selphie" she said trying to shut her up, "I just want to see if he's okay".

"Fine fine, room 124b and when you're done, our room is 298a, just knock k?" Selphie said before running off.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Squall laid his bed looking up at the ceiling, deep in thought. _"Damn Seifer, how the hell did he beat me? And where'd he get a gunblade and learn to use fire magic. Looks like I'm going to have to step up my training"._

While Squall was considering going to sleep, he heard a knock on his door. Nobody EVER knocked on Squall Leonhart's door so he justifiably jumped at the sudden noise. Squall ignored it for 5 minutes but whoever was on the other end seemed to be as stubborn as he was as they were still knocking on the door. Sighing in defeat, Squall got up and walked to the door, taking a quick look in the mirror as he saw the blood red scar on the bridge of his nose.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

"_Ugh, it's been five minutes. He's probably not here, or maybe he doesn't want to see anyone, yeah that sounds like him. Well guess what BUDDY! I'M NOT GOIN' ANYWHERE" _Rinoa thought to herself in determination and right she was going to start banging on Squall's door again, it opened.

The door opened to reveal Squall standing there with one hand running through his unkempt, chestnut brown hair. He wore a simple white t-shirt with black jeans and the only thing that seemed to give him any kind of colour differences was the red belt slung across his waist and the odd necklace and ring he wore. And by far, Squall's most noticeable feature was also his newest, the scar from the duel that cut down across the bride of his nose. Rinoa expected a big thank you or at least a smile but instead all she got was a curt "What?" from Squall.

"Hi uhh…." Rinoa began, losing what she had planned to say due to Squall's sharpness, "My name's Rinoa Heartilly, y'know the girl from this morning, and I just wanted to see if you were alright 'cause y'know, you lost a lot of blood and uh…-"but then Squall cut in.

"I'm fine" Squall spat out as he went to go shut the door right in Rinoa's face.

"Hey HEY, wait, I just wanna talk" Rinoa said.

"Well go talk to a wall, at least one of those might care about what you have to say more then me" Squall said before finally shutting his door and locking it.

_"Wow, you big meanie! I was just trying to be nice to you, not that you deserve it. Well guess what? I'm not going anywhere, and I'm gonna bug you each and every day until I get a thank you from your sorry ass!"_

_/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////_

_**So I'm thinking there is gonna be a change in the rating in the rating for this story as well as a little change in genre. It's gonna go from a Romance/Adventure to a Romance/Mystery and the rating change is to just be on the safe side. Cheers!**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Another update within 12 hours? Wow I'm on fire!!! This is going to be the beginning of major interaction between Squall and Rinoa and after seeing those drawings of Rinoa with Squall's gunblade, It kinda gave me an idea for this chapter so we'll see how it goes .Please as always, review review review and cheers to all my readers, you guys are awesome!**

**UPDATED 7/15/2009**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**Chapter 5 – Gunblades are clearly NOT for beginners**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

Rinoa hoped she'd see Squall in weapons class on Tuesday, but both and Seifer were not there. There was only so long Rinoa could listen to Instructor Trepe discussing each weapon they could choose to specialize at the academy, so much as happened in just one short day: nearly witnessing Squall's murder, her father kicking her out and now having to choose a weapon to use at Garden.

She didn't see Squall again on Wednesday either. When she walked into the room with Selphie, see was almost disappointed that he wasn't there. _"Where the hell is he? I can't get him to thank me, say sorry or anything if he thinks he's too good to show up for class. Hmmm, I wonder if the cut on his face got worse and that's why he's not here. Wait, am I actually worrying about that arrogant jerk. Bad Rinoa, bad."_

While walking to lunch with Selphie after math, the topic went to their weapon selections and their ideas. "I'm thinking I might go with the nunchucks" Selphie was saying even though Rinoa was kind of zoning out, "I mean they're supposed to be like really hard to learn but c'mon, think of all the havoc a girl like me can cause with a pair of those" and then Selphie made a sort of "Wa-Chaaaa!" sound as she pretended to use a pair of air nunchucks. "What are you gonna pick Rinny?"

"Hmmm, oh, I don't know yet…I was looking at the Blaster Edge" Rinoa said after quickly regaining her composure after her zoning out.

Walking into the cafeteria, Rinoa and Selphie saw Zell and Irvine talking about the same thing they were. "Gotta go with a gun man, it's a real man's weapon" Irvine said while acknowledging Rinoa and Selphie walking in with a quick "ladies" and a tip of the cowboy hat he always wore.

"Man's weapon? Pfft, yeah right! My grandfather was a martial artist and in the war, he fucked up 100 Estharian soldiers his own men could with hold him down. A gun's a pussy's weapons, a real man doesn't need one" Zell said confidently.

Rinoa was half listening to Zell and Irvine's argument but the other half was looking for Squall, hoping in vain that he'd show up so Rinoa's reign of terror could begin but, as expected, no Squall. Before she could refocus on her friends however, she saw Seifer from weapons class walking towards her with the two odd people that were with him on Monday. Remembering how dangerous Seifer is, she quickly warned her friends, "Look out, it's that guy who cut Squall Monday" and everyone focused their attention on him.

"Well well, look who it is" Seifer began with that smug grin on his face, "Ms. Rinoa Heartilly" he said adding extra emphasises on getting her last name right. "How's my old buddy Leonhart doin'?"

"I wouldn't know though he'd probably be better off if you didn't butcher him in an abandoned street alley" Rinoa said coldly, "You could have killed him".

"Pfft, no one cares about the loner; guys got no friends, no family and it's not like he even wants them. Look at the guy, I betcha after you saved him from his potential *premature demise* hyne forbid, he just blew you off like he hated you right?" Seifer said without removing his grin.

"Whatever" Rinoa said knowing she was quoting Squall, "It's not like it's any of your business so just leave me alone Seifer k"?

"Fine fine, just remember who to call when you want to stop hanging out with Puberty boy, this Chicken-wuss here *points at Zell* and the man-whore *points at Irvine* and start hanging out with a real man" Seifer finished as he walked away laughing.

"Please" Rinoa yelled at him, "I'll just call your mom's number, Hyne forbid she's more of a man then you are! _"Bastard, I think he's actually worse than Squall, wait, how the hell is that even possible!?!"_

Finally, Thursday came and when Rinoa got to her weapons class, she found out that the entire morning was devoted to the weapons safety test, a weapons personality test and a personal hands-on period with each of the weapons. Finishing the safety test in a flash, _"Jeez it's obvious that I shouldn't run with a sword…"_, she went down to the training centre for the weapons show. When she got down there, she saw booths set up for each weapon with a whole bunch of kids around several easier ones and instead of rushing to see what they were seeing, she decided to look around at the others and at first the Blaster Edge. Reading the sign on the booth, it said,

_Blaster Edge-Difficulty: **_

_A projectile weapon for those lacking upper body strength, the Blaster Edge is a weapon preferred by magic users in Military Forces around the world. Made famous by the Galbadian Paramagic Soldiers, the Blaster Edge's power grows with the magic skills of the user. At Garden, the basic model, Pinwheel is available to all starting off students and there is a chance to get newer models when your skill and experience increase._

After reading, Rinoa was instantly turned off from the idea of the Blaster Edge. She had never really been the best at magic and wouldn't want to really learn how to use it. She walked over to examine some other weapons but really none really quirked her. About to give up, she looked over at a really crowed booth where she could hardly see the weapon. After shoving through the crowd, she finally managed to find the information for it.

_Gunblade-Difficulty: *****_

_A weapon that should only be used by the best, the gunblade requires surgical precision along with lighting timing. Due to the difficulty of this weapon, only serious students, with the permission of the Headmaster, can attempt this rare weapon. NOT FOR BEGINNERS _

Rinoa looked at awe at the gunblade. _"So this is what Irvine said Squall and Seifer were using in that fight, wow, they must be something to use something like this" _but interrupting Rinoa's thoughts was an announcement over the P.A.

_"All new students at the Weapons Demo may now proceed back to the classroom on the second floor to write their personality test OR they may remain and test the weapons out themselves under strict supervision from an instructor, I repeat… "_

_"You mean I get to test these things out instead of writing that stupid test? Alright I wanna try that gunblade, if Squall can do it then I should have no problem" _Rinoa thought smugly to herself as she lined up to get a weapon.

As she moved down the line she saw more and more boys asking for gunblades ahead of her and realizing that they must be popular, she hoped there would be enough left when she got there and finally, "What is your name?" a serious man wearing a white clock and a funny yellow helmet, "and the weapon you wish to test?"

"Rinoa Heartilly and a gunblade" she said with a big smile on her face, egger to try one out.

"*Sigh* you and everyone else, okay, instructors will be wandering the training centre and will asset you if it's needed. Keep in mind that when you registered, you signed a waver preventing you from bringing legal action to Garden if you injure yourself, and lastly, the gunblade is a very difficult to use weapon, so don't go in over your head" the serious man said while handing her a gunblade just like the one she saw over at the booth.

"Alright" Rinoa said as she almost skipped into the deeper training centre.

While walking around for five minutes made Rinoa quickly realize that there were far too many people in the tiny area of the training centre. _"Ugh, there are so many people. There is no way I'm gonna find a monster now. I should go deeper in" _and with that, Rinoa began to walk farther away from the people until she felt she was far enough. She stood still for a moment until she felt rumbling beneath her feet. At first it felt far away but it was coming closer and quickly. Rinoa panicked as she drew her gunblade to defend herself from whatever might be approaching but nothing could prepare her for what appeared. A giant monster that Rinoa only knew because she was actually listening to that part of her weapons class, a T-Rexuar was a monster only there for actual SeeDs and all cadets were to flee on sight. But Rinoa couldn't run, she was far too scared to do anything except stand there. The monster seeing its lunch charged Rinoa's position before she could think twice. She raised the gunblade above her head and swung down while pulling on the trigger.

What happened next was both good and bad. Good news was the hit connected and the T-Rexuar recoiled back in pain. Bad news was because Rinoa didn't know how to properly hold a gunblade; the recoil of the strike on her end was devastating. After hearing a large snap in her right wrist, she dropped the gunblade, knowing that for sure she had just broken her wrist. On her knees now, shivering, thinking, _"Oh Hyne no, I'm so scared, something please…" _and when the monster charged again, she yelled "ANYONE!!!!!!!!!"

Rinoa had her eyes closed the whole time but she heard everything. Before the T-Rexuar could get within striking distance, the ring of a blade sounded in the training centre, followed by the sound of a gun firing, and ending with the dying roar of the T-Rexuar. When Rinoa finally opened her eyes, she saw the T-Rexuar in front of her, dead, and Squall standing a good ten paces away with his back turned and his gunblade resting on his shoulder. But still Rinoa couldn't seem to move.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Squall was practising alone while listening to music in the training centre. Luckily, since he was already so proficient with his weapon of choice, he didn't have to attend the weapons selections classes. He enjoyed practising alone, music blaring as Gnat after Gnat fell to his blade like they never stood a chance. As one song ended however, he heard the roar of a large monster behind some trees to his left followed by a scream. Squall may like to be alone but something he could never ever do was not helping a person who needed it. He threw his gunblade onto his shoulder and charged into the fray.

The beast went down with little effort. Just another one down in Squall's books, hardly worth his time but what caught his attention was where the yell came from. _"That girl again… *How do I get so lucky* as to keep running into this moron? She took a gunblade alone into the training centre when she didn't even know how to use one? She even broke her wrist and now I'm gonna be the one who's going to have to clean this up…just bloody perfect"._

She was just starting to calm down when Squall started to walk towards Rinoa. Before she could think twice she jumped at Squall and clutched his arm in a death grip with her good hand and her other arm.

"What are do-? " Squall tried to say before Rinoa cut him off

"I was scared" Rinoa quietly said.

"It's okay, I took care of it" Squall confidently said as he pointed to the dead T-Rexuar with his free arm.

"I was scared" Rinoa said again, "really really scared, thank you so much Squall"

"It…was nothing" Squall awkwardly replied

_"What's wrong with me? Why the hell am I even talking to this girl?"_

"Please Squall, let's go, please?" Rinoa asked very nervously.

"Fine, just stay close to me" Squall answered.

"_What am I doing? This girl means nothing to me…why do I care?"_

_/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////_

_**Upon looking back at my last chapter, I found many a grammar error and some things I thought in my head but were completely omitted in the writing itself. I think I may need to reread my work…**_


	6. Sorry!

Upon review of the story thus far, I've discovered far too many typos and inconsistencies throughout the chapters, which is probably due to when I actually writing, at 3:00 in morning. I apoligize for this and the next few updates happening tonight will be me correcting all spelling and grammer errors. Thanks for reading everyone and I hope you will all continue to read after I wish everything,

Nick Thompson- leaping_frog2


	7. Chapter 6 Bad luck

**Hi again everyone! So after uploading the last chapter, and realizing all my spelling, grammar and otherwise stupid mistakes, I'm now in the market for a Beta Reader, yay! Also, I feel like from this chapter onwards is where the story will hopefully pick up as the mystery part of the story that I earlier teased will become evident. Lastly, Chapter 6 will be told primarily through Squall's eyes just for the sake of character development and because Rinoa is kinda going to be out of commission for the time being, her having a broken wrist and all. So as always please review and if it's not too much trouble, I will be rereading this over but my current track record has shown me to be quite unobservant so any spelling, grammar or other mistakes please report to me via e-mail or PM, at least until I can find a suitable Beta Reader. Enjoy!**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**Chapter 6- Bad luck**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

Squall couldn't believe his bad luck that Thursday. After being interrupted from his training by a screaming, injured Rinoa, he had walked her back to the group where whole platoon of instructors completely chewed him and Rinoa out for straying away from the group but after a quick conversation and Squall saying who he was to them, they backed off. They knew better then to mess with Squall. _"I really hate these people, can't you see she's injured. Just let me take her to the infirmary" _Squall thought to himself in annoyance of the Garden staff members.

While walking towards the infirmary, Squall felt really awkward walking next to Rinoa, and therefore kept a few paces ahead to distance himself. This clearly bothered Rinoa as soon as she looked up to see how far Squall was walking away, she said "Hey slow down you big meanie! Your legs are longer than mine, I can't keep up" and Squall showing some mercy slowed a little.

After that, Squall immediately regretted slowing down for Rinoa for she was asking the most random questions in a vain attempt to get to know Squall well. _"Even when injured, this girl still talks way too much, why the hell does she care what my favourite colour is? Hyne, if she doesn't kill me from a stroke from her annoyance, then I'll probably just do me in myself"._

Squall and Rinoa however, finally reached the infirmary after what seemed like an entirety to Squall. Walking in, Rinoa saw Dr. Kadowaki first thing with another student with a similar injury to hers. "I swear, I get twenty of you guys every year. Always wanna try to be cool with a gunblade and wind up breaking a limb, if I had a Gil for every…" Kadowaki was saying to the student before noticing Squall and Rinoa, "Ms. Caraway, back so soon? Wait let me guess, gunblade accident right?"

"Uhh…yeah" Rinoa said back while Squall tried to slip out unnoticed. He got her there, now his job was done.

"Well because everyone seems to injure themselves on these days I'm a little busy right now but if you can just wait in the other room there, I'll see to you as soon as you can, oh and Mr. Leonhart…", "_Shit…"_, "… I'll need to keep an eye on here, make sure she's okay until I can see her. Please wait with her in the other room.

Squall was silently cursing Dr. Kadowaki out, he didn't want to be there any more then Rinoa probably wanted him there. _"She was obviously just trying to be nice while we were walking her, but I know she hates me, her and everyone else…"_

The room Dr. Kadowaki sent Rinoa and Squall into was an empty office with several chairs, a desk, medical degrees posited on the walls, and books about medicine on every bookshelf. Rinoa sat down in one of the chairs and spun around a couple times until Squall heard a quit "ouch" from her and then she stopped.

"You need to be more careful, broken bones are a serious matter. Bang it off something and it will only get worse" Squall said to Rinoa carefully.

"Hmmm, awww so you do care if I hurt myself Squall!" Rinoa proclaimed as Squall turned a bright shade of red and turned his back to her, "C'mon Squall, I was joking, you don't have to take it so seriously.

"Whatever…" Squall muttered as he walked towards the office window.

Rinoa asked the obvious question next, "Soooo Squall, you're as old as me right? So how come you know how to use a gunblade".

"That's none of your business" Squall said quickly and coldly. It was none of her business about anything from Squall's past, especially where he learned to fight. His whole secret, everything he had to run away from back home would come out then.

"Awww, c'mon Squall, you can talk to me y'know? Is it so bad that maybe I want to get to know my saviour a little? Rinoa said with a smile that Squall immediately noticed.

_"She is quite beautiful" _Squall thought to himself, _"No; there is no way I can get involved with anyone. If I do, I put them at a huge risk because of…" _but his thoughts were cut off by Rinoa, again.

"Y'know you think too much" Rinoa said.

_"And you talk too much" _Squall thought.

"Ohh well, if you don't want to tell be, that's fine, I'm just going to have to hang out with you 'till you do then" Rinoa teasingly said without dropping her smile once.

"What? No, believe me, we shouldn't be friends." Squall quickly replied.

"Oh, no. You're not getting away from me that easily Squall" Rinoa said back with her smile turning into a big grin.

Just then Dr. Kadowaki walked in to treat Rinoa and Squall took that as the perfect chance to leave. Just as he was walking out the door, Rinoa called out to him saying "I'll see you later Squally" and after flushing another shade of red, Squall almost slammed the door and walked back to his dorm room. He didn't want to go to the rest of his classes; he just wanted to be alone.

After getting back, Squall walked in just in time to her his phone ring but he didn't answer it. Instead he lied down on his bed and began to brood. But the phone kept ringing, clearly the person on the other end knew Squall well enough to know that he never picks up his phone unless he has to. Just wanting the ringing to stop, he picked up the phone, hit talk and with everything nasty he could shove into one word, he said "What?"

"Hiya Squall, how's Balamb Garden treatin' you?" said an energetic voice from the other end.

"Well enough to make me want to leave this place and never come back" Squall muttered, recognizing the voice on the other end.

"C'mon now Squall, it can't be THAT bad" the voice said, "I know Cid personally and he assured me that you'd fit right in there".

"Well I'm not, okay?!? Everyone around here is a bunch of annoying amateurs and there is this girl that keeps following me day and night who I swear has the goal to kill me by annoying me!" Squall said back, clearly losing his temper.

The voice on the other end didn't say anything else and took a good lone ten second pause before saying in a really teasing voice, "Squall's got a girlfriend, Squall's got a girlfriend"

While the voice on the other end kept reaping those words in a very teasing sort of way, Squall said very warningly "I'm hanging up".

The voice on the other end knew not to try Squall's patience too much and then said in all seriousness, "Okay well I just thought you'd like to know that Ellone is starting to feel better. The doctors are telling me she can come home next week".

Ellone, Squall's sister, was the only reason why he was at Balamb Garden in the first place but as much as he hated Garden, he never once regretted his decision that put him there. He loved his sister to death and wouldn't let anyone harm her.

"Good to know" Squall said.

"And wait 'till I tell her you have a girlfriend Squall" he said going back to teasing, "she's not going to believe me".

"Hanging up now" Squall said not as a warning but as a promise and while still able to hear another chorus of "Squall's got a girlfriend" he hit the end button on the phone, put it back into its receiver, and laid back down on his bed. And for the first time, he fell asleep, thinking about Rinoa.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

After leaving the infirmary, Rinoa felt really tired and decided to go back to her room and get some sleep as Dr. Kadowaki recommended. Though she didn't feel the pain in her arm while she was with Squall, after he left, the pain sharply came back, and if it weren't for the pain killers the Doctor had given her, she might of started screaming right there in the hallway. She walked into her room where Selphie was there waiting for her.

"Oh man, are you alright? I heard you tried the gunblade and were attacked by a T-Rexuar, I can't believe you survived with just a broken wrist. I've heard of there being nothing left of people after a T-Rexuar was through with them, except for their blood soaking everywhere" Selphie said showing that she clearly had one too many coffees that morning.

"Yeah, Squall saved me" Rinoa said and after noticing Selphie's face light up at Rinoa mentioning Squall's name and her preparing to ask a really embarrassing question to her, Rinoa quickly added, "But the doctor told me to get some sleep, so I am".

"Aww Rinny, you're no fun" Selphie said clearly disappointed.

Rinoa muttered a quick sorry and walked into her bedroom and shut the door. Though she was in pain, the painkillers seemed to have a sedative effect and Rinoa quickly found herself asleep.

"_Rin honey, everything is going to be okay. I love you"_

_"What, Mom? Is that you?_

_"Rin, I'm going to need you to run, okay? _

_"Mom, I'm not leaving you"_

_"When I say run, you need to go and not look back. You can't let him catch you, promise me"_

_"I promise but Mom, what's going on? Who's after us?_

_"Rin, he's here! Run, RUN NOW!"_

_"Mom, no NOOOO!!!"_

And as Rinoa saw her mother's own blood fly up after being shot in the throat, she looked over to see the shooter. A man, covered in a shroud of black walked over to her now dead mother to confirm the deed was done and then noticed Rinoa.

_"There you are you whore's daughter"_

And with that Rinoa woke up in a scream.

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**Confused yet? Hehe, yup this is where the mystery aspect is going to start to come in for sure. Thanks for reading and I hope to get the next chapter up in a couple of days, cheers!**


	8. Chapter 7 The Setup

'**Sup everyone?!? First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who has reviewed the story, added this story to their favourites or actually added me to their favourite authors. I can't believe how many people are actually reading and liking it so far and I'll try not to disappoint you guys. Secondly, I'd just like to say that as of writing this, the story has gotten 671 hits since being originally published on Friday the 10****th****. And lastly, this chapter will pit my story over 10,000 words; something I didn't think was even possible for me. So before I start the next chapters, I believe a shout out is necessary for everyone who supported me:**

**General Wyrm **

**Morbid333**

**snowsYAOI**

**DaughterOfSorceress-Lion**

**olamho**

**So without further ado, here is chapter 7**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**Chapter 7- "The set-up"**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

Rinoa didn't do much of anything that weekend, partly because of her arm causing so much pain and partly because she was trying to interpret the dream she had Thursday night. She had been exempt from classes that Friday, as they all required a weapon, and just spent the day thinking about everything that has happened. Breaking her hand, Squall, the dream, Squall, everything seemed to remind her of Squall and no matter what Rinoa tried, she could not get her mind off him.

_"Wonder where he got so good with a gunblade" _Rinoa thought to herself, _"and why is he sooo damn quiet? Oh well, no guy can resist my charms, I'll have him talking in no time" _she finished very self-assuredly. But she didn't get a chance to think any more about him because Selphie walked, or rather bounced, into her room with a big grin on her face.

"Guess what Rinny, guess what?!?" Selphie half yelled.

"What Selphie, what?" Rinoa answered back mimicking her excitement.

"BIIIIIIIG dance commin' up next weekend Rinny, y'know for all the new students, big Garden tradition, and anyway…" Selphie said while still somewhat bouncing and then she looked at Rinoa very seriously and spoke very slowly, "we-have-to-go-SHOPPING!" she finished in a yell.

"I don't think I'm going to go Selphie" Rinoa said letting her voice slip a little. She didn't even know who to take let alone even feel like dancing right then.

"Oh no, you're going" Selphie said, "I'm getting a date lined up for you and everything so you better not blow him off".

"Wha- a date, Selphie!?!" Rinoa said very surprised and she put a big pout on her face, _"but, but, if I HAVE to go, then I wanted to ask Squall…forget it, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy who's into dances"._

"Yup, I'm getting you a date so let's get'cha something nice to wear" Selphie said and after noticing the nervous look on Rinoa's face she added, "don't worry Rinny, I know you'll like him".

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Squall woke up that Saturday very late and very tired. He had been in the training centre until 3 in the morning trying to get his mind away from her. He knew he couldn't get involved with anyone, not after what happened back home. Squall looked over to see his phone flashing with a voicemail so he reached over to the phone to hear it.

"Hey Squaaaal!!!!!!!!!!!" His father's voice sounded very loudly on the other end of the phone, "Ellie's outta the hospital. Give a call, will ya?"

Squall was very surprised to hear this news, after what happened, he expected Ellone to be in the hospital for at least another couple weeks. Eager to talk to his sister again, Squall quickly dialled the number home, hoping that his father didn't pick up first. His hopes however, didn't come to fruition.

"Hullo" came his father's voice on the phone and Squall silently cursed his bad luck.

"Let me talk to Ellone" Squall said, already very impatient with his father.

"Fine, fine, I'll go get her" he said back and Squall heard the phone being put down and his father yelling, "HEY ELLIE, SQUALL'S ON THE PHONE, PICK UP PICK UP!!!" and then a voice came on the phone that was the complete opposite of his father's loud voice.

"Hello Squall" Ellone said very calmly and softly on the other end on the phone.

"Ellone, are you okay, are you feeling better?" Squall asked her quickly.

"Yes, yes, I'm fine Squall" she assured him. "So, what's this about a girl that Uncle Laguna keeps mentioning?"

_"I'm gonna kill that man" _Squall promised himself, "It's nothing Ellone"

"Squall, I can tell when you're lying to me" she said back, this time with a more teasing voice.

"Whatever" he muttered back.

"C'mon Squall you can tell me, what's her name? What does she look like" Ellone asked.

Squall was usually able to keep to himself but when talking to his sister, she had a way of getting into Squall's shell and Squall knew it. He sighed at the futility of trying to keep it a secret from her any longer and said, "Her name is Rinoa and she's…very beautiful".

"Rinoa? As in Rinoa Caraway? _"Her last name is Heartilly" _Squall silently corrected remembering her do so all too many times, "Wow Squall, you sure know how to pick 'em"

"What do you mean" he asked back.

"She's the daughter of the General of Galbadia Squall, the daughter of the enemy" she said back.

Squall knew all too well that Galbadia was at war with his homeland of Esther as well as he knew who Rinoa's father was, but he didn't care. It's not like he can become involved with someone anyway.

"Well it's not like I can risk dating anyone Ellone, not after what happened back home" Squall said in a very as-matter-of-fact like as he could.

Squall and Ellone were then very silent for a good minute, both knowing what Squall was referring too and why he couldn't risk getting anyone involved. "Squall…" Ellone began, "I don't want you to suffer because of me, you shouldn't ignore this girl anymore".

"But I can't, what happened if they find out where I'm hiding Ellone? What happens when they find me with her? The disgraced Esther Knight conspiring with the daughter of the Galbadian general, they would kill us both!" Squall yelled.

"They won't find you Squall; the military is already giving up looking for you. Please Squall, for me, please move on and be happy". Ellone said.

Squall sighed as he began to remember the past…

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Selphie was on a mission and she wasn't going to fail: Operation _"Get Squall and Rinny to go to the dance"_ but she knew it was going to be tough. She knew that Rinoa had a thing for him but she didn't know if Squall knew, or cared for that matter, but she was going to try.

Walking down the boy's dorm hallway, she was asked to the dance by seven different guys before she made it to Squall's room. Sighing and preparing for the worst, she nervously knocked on Squall's door.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Squall was still on the phone when he heard a knock at the door. He was going to ignore it when he realized that Ellone heard it too and said "You had better get the door Squall. And please remember what I said, you deserve to be happy".

"Whatever" Squall said back, "Say hi to Dad for me" Squall didn't much like his father but just because he was a goof didn't change the fact that Squall loved his family very much.

"Will do Squall, talk to you later" and then Ellone hung up the phone. Squall then put the phone back and went to the door hoping it was Rinoa. It wasn't.

Squall didn't really know the girl standing in front of his door except for her name. He made of point of avoiding loud, obnoxious people and even without knowing her, Squall could tell she was one of _them_.

"Hiya Squall" Selphie said looking really nervous _"am I really that frightening?"_ "So uhh…listen, you goin' to dance next weekend?" Squall couldn't believe what he was hearing, _"is this girl asking me to the dance?"_

"I don't dance" Squall said back coldly.

"Oh let me guess, you only dance with someone you like right?" Selphie asked, "Well luckily for you, I think I have just that person, I know she likes you so what d'you say?"

_"A girl who likes me? That's impossible. No one likes me, I made sure of that but…why would this girl lie?" _"Whatever" Squall muttered.

Selphie taking Squall's answer as a yes said, "Alright! Meet her at the doors to the Quad at 7:30, k? She'll be wearing a white dress".

"Whatever" Squall answered back and went back into his room and shut the door back in Selphie's face. _"Is this some kind of joke? Hell it's probably Seifer trying to screw with me. Well forget that, he and his joke can go to hell for all I care."_

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The next week went far too slowly for Rinoa's liking. She was assigned the only weapon she could use with one hand, a small blaster edge, and had gotten pretty good at it. Combine that with her advanced math, history, and conduct classes, she was exhausted. Whenever she'd try to talk to Squall, he'd get really awkward and find an excuse to get out of the conversation and Rinoa regretted that she would be going to the dance with him. She was half worried; half excited to see who Selphie set her up with but was defiantly excited for this dance. Finally Saturday came and she and Selphie were talking in their room. "Will you tell me who it is now?" Rinoa tried asking again.

"Nope" Selphie said, "You'll see him when you see him" she said with a sly smile on her face.

"C'mon Selphie, the suspense is killing me!

"Just be patient Rinny, it'll be worth it trust me"

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

It was seven o'clock and Squall was still in his room, debating on whether or not to go to the dance. _"If its Seifer screwing with me, there is no way he's ever going to let me live this down. But that Selphie girl; isn't she Rinoa's roommate. Maybe….no, there's no way. But there is always a chance it could be her, but if it's not…"_

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

He was late. Rinoa had been standing in front of the quad for a half hour now and it was now eight o'clock. _"The guy stood me up! Freggin' Selphie! I would of just asked Squall if I knew this was going to happen" _she thought to herself as she began to walk into the Quad to go give Selphie a piece of her mind, but before she could go in, she heard footsteps behind her and a familiar voice saying, "…No way"

Quickly turning around, she saw Squall there wearing his SeeD uniform, which was required by the guys at the dance and for the first time ever, it looked as though he had combed his hair, making his scar clearly visible. "Did uhh… did Selphie set you up with someone?" She nervously asked.

"Yeah, she said a girl in a white dress would meet me here…I guess you're her" Squall assumed as not only was Rinoa the only girl with a white dress there, she was the only girl standing there period.

_"Oh man Selphie, how did you ever convince Squall to come? Forget it, I'm gonna make the most of this", _"Well then c'mon Squall ready for our date?"

Squall flushed a shade of red and Rinoa knew it was going to be a fun night.

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**How's the dance going to go I wonder? What did Squall do back in Esther? Well find out in chapter 8, which I hope to have up soon!**


	9. Chapter 8 The Arrest

**Hey, I know it's only been 24 hours since my last update, but I've finally hammered out how long I want this thing to be, approximately 15 chapters and the plot is really going to pick up here so I'm really excited to put this out there as soon as possible, so without wasting anymore of your time, here is chapter 8**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**Chapter 8- "The Arrest"  
****///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

Rinoa couldn't believe her luck when she saw that Squall was the one Selphie had set her up with, and she wasn't hiding it. Though Squall would have probably stood there in front of the Quad looking awkward all night, Rinoa grabbed his hand and pulled him into the Quad. _"I can't believe Squall actually came, and he's MY date. I defiantly have to thank Selphie"._

As Rinoa was pulling Squall up to the dance floor, he however suddenly stopped walking and held himself in place. "What's wrong Squall? You too chicken to dance with me?" Rinoa asked teasingly knowing full well that Squall wasn't anything close to a chicken.

"I can't dance" was Squall's simple reply.

_"Of course he can't dance, hell knowing him this is defiantly the first dance he's ever been to" _Rinoa thought to herself before saying "don't worry Squall, you'll be fine, c'mon".

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

_"What am I doing here? What am I doing here? Why the hell did I come here? Am I an idiot? Hyne, I really don't want to dance… I came just like Selphie made me now please let me go" _Squall thought to himself as Rinoa dragged him rather forcefully to the dance floor. _"Maybe if I just pretend I don't know how to dance, she'll give up. Yeah, any reasonable person would…" _and while Squall was feigning ignorance of how to dance, Rinoa placed his arms accordingly so that she was leading.

_"Hyne, she's really beautiful in the moonlight. No Squall, focus. I'm supposed to not know how to dance" _he thought as he purposely and awkwardly stepped on Rinoa's foot.

"Owwww" was all that Squall heard as he quickly turned around and tried to use the opportunity to make his escape but before he could get away, Rinoa grabbed Squall's hand and said, "please Squall…please don't go".

"*Sigh*, whatever" he said back and they began to awkwardly dance again and Squall saw another opportunity to get out of it when he noticed he was dancing quite close to another couple. He shuffled over and ran into them while they were in full swing.

"Hey, watch where the hell you're going Leonhart" the guy said angrily.

"Well, if you knew how to dance, this never would have happened" Rinoa said back to the guy as he scowled and walked away with his date. Squall looked back at Rinoa to see her smiling and he decided to show her real dancing.

Squall had completely changing tempo in accordance with the music, and remembering back to his dancing lessons back home, he made each step flawlessly and Squall noticed the surprise on Rinoa's face and thought _"well I may not want to dance but I'm sure as hell not going to look bad in front of people…especially you…"_

The dance was coming to an end as Squall brought Rinoa into a twirl and stopped her back in position, really close to Squall. "Ha, so you CAN dance" Rinoa said with her trademark smile on her face.

"Whatever" Squall muttered.

"Hey uhhhh… there is something I want to tell you Squall…" Rinoa said, while slightly blushing.

_"Oh no, she's not going to say what I think she's going to, is she? But this is what I want, isn't it? No, I can't endanger her like that…"_

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

_"I have strong feelings for him, I have to tell him, I have to" _Rinoa thought to herself as she tried to muster the courage to say what she wanted but before she could, the sound of smashing glass crashed overhead, and Squall and her instantly looked up.

Soldiers repelling from the ceiling in full force combined with spotlights from helicopters swooping above took the whole dance by storm. Rinoa didn't recognize the uniforms of the soldiers but concluded that since they weren't Galbadian, they must be from Esther. The Estharian soldiers circled around everyone and with guns pointing, a man who looked like to be their superior announced on a loudspeaker, "Squall Leonhart, your time has come, step forward immediately".

Rinoa looked back at Squall to see something she didn't think possible in his strong, blue eyes: fear. What Squall said next though just added to Rinoa's confusion. "So they've finally come eh? I'm sorry Rinoa, but I have to go away for a while…"

"No Squall, don't go with them" Rinoa said back trying to fight back her fear to calm down the now shaking Squall, "You don't have to go".

"I do, they've come because of what I've done but before I go…" Squall began and brought Rinoa back in tighter and kissed her, right in front of everyone staring at them and the soldiers and for that moment, time stood still for Rinoa. Finally releasing her, Squall walked forward to face the soldiers.

"I'm Squall Leonhart…" he said, announcing himself to the leader.

_"No Squall, please don't go. Don't let them take you away"_

"Commander Squall Leonhart of the Esther Knights, you are charged with the murder of a senator of the Estharian Senate and High Treason. You will come with us immediately to face your crimes" the leader announced.

Rinoa mind was then racked with questions, _"Esther Knights, murder?" _but she still didn't want Squall to go and the last words she heard her say was an emotionless "…fine" and then both he and the soldiers disappeared into the darkness, leaving Rinoa standing there alone, and without her noticing it, she fell to the ground in tears.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

_"This is what I deserve" _Squall thought to himself, _"they are defiantly going to kill me, but that's alright, if that's how it's decided then I'll just have to abide by it."_

Squall was now in a helicopter with several other soldiers along with their captain that Squall recognized from the stripes down his arm's uniform. His thoughts were interrupted however when one of the soldiers who Squall guessed was no older than 16 and defiantly a rookie started to talk to him, "Commander Leonhart sir?"

_"Don't call me that, I'm not a commander anymore…"_

"Sir, I just wanted to say that you were my hero sir, you're the reason I joined the military" the boy soldier said to him.

_"I'm no hero kid, just a treasonous murderer"_, "…whatever"

"But sir, I must ask, why did you do it, why did you kill the senator" the boy soldier asked as Squall noticed that his voice hadn't even fully cracked yet.

"That's none of your business" Squall coldly replied.

"Please sir, I'm just trying to understand… the senator was well liked among the people and you are…you were so strong, the pride of the Estharian military why?"

Squall exhaled as he recalled what had happened just one month ago…

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

_Squall Leonhart, the Commander of the elite Esther Knights was at the Presidential Palace working. The Knights were the elite guard for the President himself and also in charge of the Special Operations branch of the military and after 5 short years, Squall rose through the ranks to eventually become commander, answering only to the President himself, and it helped even more that the President was his father._

_But times were dark in Esther, with the Galbadians looming right off their shores, it was only a matter of time before they laid siege to his home. The President had been doing all he could to avoid the seemingly inevitable conflict but while doing so, he earned the ire of the Senate, who had been pushing for full-scale war to "show the world the might of Esther". The President disagreed with this stance however and Squall did to, to a point. _

_On that fateful day, he was called to escort the President himself as he applied to the Senate. His father, the President, was waiting for him outside Squall's quarters with his trademark goofy smile._

_"Mornin' there Squall, ready to go?" He asked._

_"Whatever…" Squall just muttered in agreement._

_His father then looked extremely disappointed and said, "You don't think this will work Squall do you?"_

_"It doesn't matter what I think sir, if they decide war then you'll just have to abide by it. Even if you are the President, the senators are the controlling party right now"._

_"I know but… I just wish we wouldn't have to send our soldiers to their death y'know? We're destroying so many families, so many lives… and what are ya doing calling me sir, y'know I hate that, call me Laguna if you don't want to call me Dad._

_"Whatever…Laguna" Squall muttered back, pleasing Laguna and putting a smile back on his face._

_Now at the Senate, Laguna was pleading his case while Squall hung back in the shadows though he was fighting a losing battle. One senator, Senator Pike, seemed to be leading the warmongering crusade and whenever Laguna would try to say something, he would cut him off with a curt counterpoint as to why the war was needed. Frustrated, Laguna pulled the only card he had left: his secret weapon._

_"Why is everyone following this man?" Laguna questioned the Senate, "the man who is currently on trail for the rapes of several women? Are we going to let a rapist decide the future of our nation?!?_

_The Senate erupted in uproars of the mention of that fact. Clearly they didn't believe it to be true._

_"Innocent until proven guilty Loire, not that I'll be proven guilty as there is nothing to prove" he confidently proclaimed._

_"Not true Senator" Laguna said back as confident as Pike was, "new evidence is going through my office as we speak and soon we'll have you convicted"._

_"No one would believe it!" Pike said now getting frantic, "Obviously you forged it to have me run out! That's your game isn't it Loire!?! Take advantage of the situation to get what you want by fabricating evidence?"_

_"We'll see what the courts decide then" Laguna said with a small smirk on his face before turning to leave, Squall following suit._

Squall's memories skipped the useless stuff and fast-forwarded…

_Squall had been standing guard of the President's chambers along with two other knights. Security had been increased due to the growing fear that the Senate might try something desperate to remove Laguna but as of then, nothing. That was into Squall saw his sister running downing the hallway, frantic and a complete mess with her face soaked in tears in sweat. She ran into Squall's alarmed arms._

_"Ellone, what the hell happened?" Squall quickly questioned._

_"Please take me to Laguna…take me to Dad" was all she managed to say._

_Squall immediately dismissed the other two knights and helped Ellone walk into Laguna office. Laguna, who was talking with his friends and aids, Kiros and Ward saw Ellone's condition and stood up quickly and said, "Ellie, what happened?"_

_"Pike…he…he…" she began but Squall and Laguna didn't need to hear her finish the rest, they already knew what she was going to saw._

_"That bastard…" Squall gritted between his teeth as he turned to leave._

_"Squall, wait, don't!" Laguna called after him in vain. Squall was mad and nobody changed his mind when he was mad._

_Squall nearly ran to where Senator Pike had called home, just north of the shopping centre and as he approached the door, two guards attempted to stop him but before they could act, Squall had cut them in half with one swing of his gunblade, the sound of the trigger piercing the night of the full moon. Kicking down the door, Squall coldly walked into Pike's living quarters to see a scared Pike, on the ground with fear in his eyes but when he saw who had banged down his door and killed his guards, he started laughing._

_"You here for revenge boy?" Pike said amidst laughs, "hahaha, strike me down then"._

_Squall then ran him through with his gunblade, bringing the hilt right up to Pike. Still laughing, Pike managed to spit out "…you just… ensured Esther goes to war, hehehe" before Squall pulled the trigger, splitting Pike in quarters and spraying blood everywhere. And then, Squall realized what he had done._

_Because of Pike's death, not only did he add fuel to the fire to the War movement, but he completely discredited anything Laguna said. The evidence had been thrown out, and everybody believed Pike to be an Estharian hero who fought to bring about the glory age of Esther. With Laguna's last bit of Presidential power before he was forced to resign, he sent Squall to Balamb, to hide from the military that was now looking for him._

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Squall sighed as he looked at the boy soldier who seemed to shiver at Squall's gaze alone. Wanting the soldier to just leave him alone, he said "let's just say the senator wasn't as good as people thought he was…"

"Silence, no more talking" the captain said and Squall looked outside to see the beginnings of a sunrise on the horizon.

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**There you go, that Squall's past! And I hope to shed some light on Rinoa's soon too, but what's Rinoa gonna do without Squall? Betcha can't wait for the next chapter!**


	10. Chapter 9 The Plan

**Alright, another chapter, woooo! As the story's plot begins to pick up, I'm getting more and more excited to put it all down into words and as I approach the final chapter which I hope to be chapter 15, I hope that you guys stick around to then and afterwards look for a new story that sprung out of my head while I was writing this, but I won't be thinking anymore about it until this is finished. So, are you worried about Squall? Hehe, I thought so, well here goes Chapter 9, enjoy!**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**Chapter 9- "The Plan"**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

Rinoa was barely able to comprehend what had just happened. Ten minutes ago she had been dancing with Squall and now he is in Estharian custody _"for murder?"_ All the other students at Garden were quickly shuffled back to their dorms by the Garden Staff but Rinoa couldn't move. Even when the Garden Staff threatened her with various types of punishment, she could not move. Thankfully, Selphie was able to save her.

"Hey, BACK OFF, will ya?!?" she yelled at one of the many now converging Garden Staff.

"Fine, YOU take her then" they said as cold and uncaring as ice.

Selphie tried to pick up Rinoa but couldn't so with the help of Zell and Irvine, she carried her back to the room they shared. _"What's going to happen Squall? …I….don't want to be alone…Squall…"_

Finally they got back to the room where Selphie suggested Rinoa get some sleep but she felt unable to even think about sleeping. While in her room and complete darkness, she listened to the conversation Selphie, Zell and Irvine were having on the other side of the door.

"…but murder man? I always knew Leonhart was cold but that just takes it" Irvine said in a matter-of-fact sort of way.

"He must have had a good reason Irvine; you don't just kill a senator for no good reason" Selphie spat back.

"Like being a fuckin' psychopath?" Zell suggested and Selphie shot him a death glare.

"I wish there was something we could do…" Selphie said to herself in a near whisper.

"What d'ya think is gonna happen to him?" Irvine asked"

"Murder, high treason, he's probably going to be executed…" Selphie answered maintaining her whisper.

Now with a huge headache, fresh tears drenching her face and fists clenched, Rinoa laid down in bed and cast a sleep spell on herself in order to just forget what had just transpired.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

_She stood in a room that had reminded her of Caraway mansion, the house she had come to hate, but everything seemed bigger than usual. Or like she was smaller than usual. Rinoa glanced at a reflection in a window to see she was a kid again, around the age of five. _

_"What am I doing here?"_

_She heard someone running behind her into the room and turning around quickly to see who it was, she saw her mother, as pale as a ghost rush into the room._

_"He's at it again Rinoa, you have to hide, quickly!" her mom said as she moved her to hide underneath a desk. "You'll' be safe here Rin, I promise" she attempted to assure her daughter but the obvious fear in her voice betrayed her confident words._

_Now she stood back up and stared at the door waiting for whatever was after them. Under the desk, Rinoa heard the door literally being kicked off its hinges and a man walked in, but Rinoa couldn't see his face._

_"You cheating bitch, how DARE YOU go behind my back?" the man yelled at Rinoa's mom, to which she replied,_

_"Because you treat me like trash… no… at least trash doesn't get attacked by the things that supposedly love them. HE would never hurt me"._

_Rinoa heard the sound of knuckles hitting flesh and her mother toppled to the ground, still calm and maintaining silence._

_"I'm going to send Loire to his fuckin' death, I going to make sure that the news of your death will completely destroy him. You have both fucked with me for the last fucking time!" The man yelled as he pulled out a handgun and cocked it. _

_He mom then looked her dead in the eyes and whispered her last, reassuring words to her daughter._

"_Rin honey, everything is going to be okay. I love you"_

_BANG!_

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Rinoa woke up with a sharp jolt that was welcomed by an even larger headache then the one she went to sleep with. Groaning in pain, she rolled over while remembering the events of last night, and confused about the dream even more,

_"Mom died in a car crash… why am I seeing her being shot….I am really messed up right now, I need some food…" _she thought to herself as she left her room to go to the cafeteria, but there were people already there, and they weren't Selphie, Zell or Irvine.

"Ms. Caraway, your father requested us to bring you back home" a man in a Galbadian officer's uniform said, "after the Estharian attack, he no longer believes it safe for you here, you will come with us".

_"If I go back, I'll never see Squall again…"_, "…and if I refuse?" Rinoa asked confidently.

"We have been instructed to take you back by whatever means necessary, you will come with us willingly or we will FORCE you to come with us, be reasonable" the officer said.

_"I don't want to go back…I want to see Squall again…he's in Esther and I'll be in Galbadia and he's going to be killed. I have to save him, I HAVE TO"_, "…then looks like you're forcing me 'cause I have no intention of going with you" Rinoa said as she grabbed her blaster edge and braced herself for a fight.

_"I'll save you Squall; I just need some time…"_

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Caraway stood in his office looking out into Deling City, the capital of Galbadia, as it rained. He was expecting his daughter to arrive home soon, as planned. He had to make sure this happened as soon as possible, _"she might be starting to remember… I never should of let her go to that school…" _he thought to himself while he was awaiting an officer to report in with her current status. He heard voices on the other side of his door and believing it to be about his daughter, he yelled "COME IN!"

A soldier wearing the basic Galbadian uniform walked in nervously and stood at attention fifteen paces away from Caraway and gave the Galbadian salute, and Caraway returned it.

"Sir, Esther has pushed back our Northern Forces back to Trabia. We are unable to hold there for much longer, any day now those Estharians will have pushed back completely off the continent. We need reinforce…" but the soldier was cut off by Caraway.

"Wait outside soldier, I need to make a phone call regarding this matter" Caraway curtly said.

"Yes sir" the soldier replied as he saluted and stepped back outside, shutting the door behind him.

Caraway picked up the phone and dialled a familiar number, and on the other end a familiar voice responded, "Caraway, why are you calling us?"

"Because I just received word that your soldiers are pushing mine off the continent, what about our agreement?" Caraway questioned.

"It's still in effect General, I can't control how well our soldier's fight. I advise that you send reinforcements immediately"

"Do you have any idea how much it costs to send men out to that Hyne forsaken place? I thought the idea was to make money, not spend it?" Caraway accused the voice.

"And it is, listen General; you need to occupy the neutral nation of Balamb. From there it would be easy to send soldiers to the north, understand".

"Balamb….fine, it will be taken by nightfall" Caraway responded.

"Oh and General, do be careful, us here in the Senate have risked a great deal for this plan for you to go and ruin it now."

"I will, take care Senator…" and Caraway hung up the phone.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Selphie, Zell and Irvine were walking back from the cafeteria with some food for Rinoa, when they heard some yelling, gunshots, and the wisp of a blaster edge blade soaring in the air. Dropping everything they were carrying, the trio ran back to the room just to see the last standing Galbadian soldier fall to the ground, unconscious.

"Holy Rinny, what happened?!?" Selphie exclaimed.

"These guys tried to take me home but I didn't want to, but I think I overdid it" Rinoa said with a smile.

"Fuckin' right you did, look at these guys" Zell said amazed as he bent over to make sure Rinoa hadn't actually killed them.

"That's why you don't interfere with women this time of month, it's dangerous" Irvine said with a smirk as Selphie shot him another death glare.

"You said they were trying to get you to go home Rinny?" Selphie inquired as Rinoa replayed the entire story for her. "Hmmm, it sounds like you have another plan Rinny…"

"I do, I'm going to Esther, I'm gonna save Squall, and I'm gonna bring him back here" Rinoa said in all confidence.

"Save Squall…oh Rinny, nobody even knows specifically where Esther City is, and even if you did, Squall is probably in prison, _"or already dead" _Selphie added on in her head.

"I wasn't asking for your permission Selphie" Rinoa snapped and then dropped to a whisper, "I know…I know he'd do the same for me, so I'm gonna get him out".

"Alright then Rinny, and we're gonna help" Selphie said beaming.

"Wha-no no no, I can't let you guys put yourselves in danger" Rinoa said feeling instantly guilty.

"Forget it Rin, you know I can't refuse a damsel in distress" Irvine said to another Selphie death glare.

"Yeah, and you'll need all the fuckin' help you can get to get there" Zell added.

"Thanks…everyone…" Rinoa whispered.

_"I'm coming Squall, just wait for me…"_

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Squall was in a dark prison cell, slouching over while sitting next to the wall in deep thought.

_"I'm sorry Rinoa; this never should have happened…It's all my fault…"_

Then Squall heard a noise on the other side of the cell door but he didn't bother to look up to see who it was. He then heard a voice say, "Get up murderer, you're to appear in front of the senate now", and Squall stood, still looking downwards.

"What I don't get is, why don't they just fuckin' kill ya right now, why they actually hold court for scum like you…" and the man spat in Squall's face, "…is beyond me".

"Whatever…" Squall managed to say. It took everything he had not to punch the man right then and there but he knew if this made him angry, then the lies and hypocrisy he was about to experience in the senate we going to drive him insane. Sighing at the futility of fighting the man, he followed into the desert sunlight on the way to the senate.

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**There we go! Chapter 9! I bet you all have your suspicions and your theories and I'd love t hear them all in your reviews. Cheers!**


	11. The Occupation and Getting Airborne

**I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, It's almost been a week since my last update, partly due to technical hitches with my computer but now that I'm up and running again, I thought it was time for a new chapter and I'd especially like to give another shout out Freyjadour for your review, it's almost weird to see you review my story after I've read all of yours and for everyone, if you're not too busy reading my story then please check out BLEED IT OUT by Freyjadour, it is in my top 3 favourite stories on this site and I feel everyone should read it. Now without any further distractions, here is chapter 10, woooo double digits!**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**Chapter 10- "The Occupation and Getting Airborne"**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

The General was now in the Presidential Offices to go see the President himself. He knew that occupying Balamb was going to need the go-ahead from the top brass and he couldn't let the plan fail no matter what. Waiting outside the President's office in an extravagant hallway, a Galbadian officer and two escorts walked up and saluted him, which he returned.

"Sir our forces are standing by in Dollet and are awaiting your orders" the officer announced.

"Good, have them advance on Balamb at 1400 hours" Caraway replied.

"But…but sir…" the officer began, "I thought we needed the President's permission"

"There is too much at stake for the President to delay us with his bureaucratic bullshit soldier, we need this war to end in our favour, for the sake of Galbadia. If we don't, we may be speaking Estharian quite soon and I for one don't want to be subject to them, I'm sure you agree?" Caraway asked with a charismatic tone to his voice.

"Of course sir, I'd rather be dead…" the officer replied and his escorts nodded in agreement.

"And think of your family, you have one, right soldier?" Caraway continued.

"A wife and a daughter sir" he answered.

"Well if we let Esther get into bombing range of Deling city, your family will surely be in danger, are you going to let that happen?" Caraway asked maintaining his charisma.

"No sir" the officer answered.

"Then go relay my orders immediately to our forces in Dollet" Caraway finished.

"Yes sir" the officer then saluted and left with his escorts.

_"Idiot… it's amazing how stupid people can be when they feel threatened… it appears fear is a powerful ally" _Caraway was thinking before he was interrupted by one of the Presidential guards.

"General, President Deling will see you now" he said with a salute.

"Excellent, take me to him" Caraway responded, _"and let the games begin"._

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Rinoa was frantically looking for a way to get off the island of Balamb and go to Esther but there was a small problem. They were on an island with no boats! And no trains ran to Esther either. She was completely stuck went she went back to her dorm room to see if Selphie, Zell or Irvine had any better luck…. They hadn't.

"C'mon Rin, don't give up, we'll get there" Selphie said trying to encourage Rinoa.

"But no boats, no trains…the only airships are in Esther…" Rinoa began but Selphie cut her off.

"We'll get there Rin, promise!"

"Promise?"

"Yup!"

Before Rinoa could thank Selphie however, the voice of the Headmaster came over the PA, "Attention Garden staff and students, after the attack from Esther last night, I know everyone is a little shaken, but I as Headmaster would like to assure everyone that Garden is THE most secure place in the world and I personality promise that no foreign military force will ever again set foot in Gar…" but a large explosion and static muted the rest of the speech.

"What the hell was that?" Rinoa heard the Headmaster yell.

"Galbadian's sir, in full force…they've already broken into Garden".

"Damn, everyone do not panic and please proceed to your dorm rooms, Garden Staff and SeeD personnel will handle this situation, I repeat…" Cid was saying but Rinoa's attention turned to outside the window.

"Look…" was all Rinoa could say and it was enough for the four of them to gaze outside. The Galbadian's were there in full force all right, with rows upon rows of armed soldiers, battle machines in the air, an airship fleet Rinoa didn't even know existed until then.

"I don't think they will be able to handle this…" Irvine said quietly.

"Then we need to go, NOW!" Rinoa ordered, regaining her composure.

"Go where?" Zell asked, "Not only is the entire fuckin' Galbadian army at our door step but so said yourself there was no way of getting the fuck of this island".

"See that there?" Rinoa asked the trio while pointing outside to a landed airship.

"Yeeaaah…"Irvine began nervously, "you're not thinking what I think you're thinking right?"

"We gonna steal an airship Rinny?" Selphie asked excited at the prospect.

"We're gonna steal an airship Selphie" Rinoa answered with a smirk.

"BOOYAKA!!"

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Squall looked up into the desert sky while being escorted to the senate. He couldn't stop thinking about Rinoa, and how he'd never see her again, her warm smile, how she used to talk way too much and how he'd pretend he was annoyed by it. But he pushed those thoughts out of his head, they hurt him too much.

He took a quick look at his armed escort and was surprised at how little men they was with him. Only five armed soldiers and an Esther Knight was escorting him and if he really wanted too, he could easily run away, but he refused. He'd rather die than run again. Now approaching the senate the Knight stopped Squall and began to say in a very rough voice, "Leonhart, you are about to appear in front of the senate, you will show the proper respect when addressing the senators and you will not speak out of turn, is that understood?"

"Whatever… let's just get this over with…" Squall answered.

Walking through the grand halls of the senate, Squall noticed large paintings of former senators hung up on the walls of the long, marble hallway. Right before reaching the chambers of the Senate, Squall noticed the newest paining on the wall with a plaque underneath that made him sick, it read _"Senator Pike, Hero of Esther"_. Almost wanting to throw up, Squall forced himself to look away and walk into the chambers where all the senators were waiting for him.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Rinoa and the trio had managed to exit Balamb Garden without incident due to the fact that they exited not by the front gate but through the Quad, and making their way into a nearby forest with a perfect view of the airship, with was perfectly placed away from the main Galbadian army. Everything was going perfectly. But before they could make a break for the airship, they saw Cid with an escort of about 20 people in SeeD uniforms approach the main Galbadian army. Running to the airship to be within earshot of the conversation that was about to take place, Rinoa and the others ran and hid behind the airship and could hear everything.

"I am Headmaster Cid of Balamb Garden and I wish to speak with whoever is in charge here" he demanded quite confidently for being so outnumbered.

"Ahaha, well if it isn't old man Cid, I bet you've missed me, haven't ya" came a familiar cocky voice but Rinoa couldn't remember who it belonged to.

"You…?!?" Cid seemed in shock, losing all composure, "but...You're one of us, how could you betray us?"

"Quite easily in fact" the voice said with arrogance soaking each word, "Y'see, my father is quite a high ranking Galbadian officer and when he heard that Balamb was to be occupied, he gave me a call, offering me a job in the army. If I can successfully take Balamb, and believe me I will, then I'll be a commander in the Galbadian army. This has always been my dream Cid, and you can't stop it!"

"Well then, you called us out here, what is it you want" Cid said now as cold as ice.

"Hehe, well before I destroy my former home, I have orders to take a Rinoa Caraway into custody, her father misses her greatly" the arrogant man answered with a hint of sarcasm at the end there and Rinoa tensed up.

"Forget it, I bet you'll just kill her back in Galbadia then" Cid answered.

"Fine then…" then man said as Rinoa heard him begin to walk away as she heard him order the nearby soldiers, "…kill them" and with a roar of bullets Rinoa heard Cid and the SeeD's drop dead as the man walked away with roaring laughter. Rinoa poked her head out to catch a quick glimpse of the man, a man wearing a white trench coat…

"Seifer…he's with them…" Rinoa said in a whisper.

"No fuckin' way, let me see" Zell whispered back, "holy shit that IS him"

"Rinny, are we still on to take the ship?" Selphie asked.

"Yeah…yeah let's do it, everyone ready?" Rinoa asked.

"You betcha" Selphie said tightening her grip on her nunchucks.

"Fuck ya" Zell said hitting his fists together.

"No problem" Irvine said confidently while putting a new cartridge into his gun.

"Then let's go!" Rinoa finished.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The hearing was in full swing in the Senate as Squall could only sit there has the senators repeatedly took turns in destroying everything that Squall felt was important, his family, his pride, everything. Finally, the one senator who appeared to be in charge broke the other senators voices asked Squall in a calm voice, "Mr. Leonhart, do you have anything to say in your own defence?"

_"In my own defence? What's the point? Laguna and Ellone have already told you why I did what I did and you refused to believe it! This country is just a mire of filth and they all elect filth to represent them apparently. Everyone here is just trash, why should I waste my words explaining myself to trash…besides; they're going to execute me no matter what… I just need to except that that's the way is been decided… but why should I have to abide by something that's this morally wrong…"_

"Mr. Leonhart…?" the senator asked again.

"You've already made your decision, I won't waste my breath" Squall said in a near whisper.

"Very well then" the lead senator said as he stood up, "Mr. Leonhart, you are accused of the murder of Senator Pike and High Treason against the government of Esther, fellow senator's raise your hand now if you believe him to be innocent of these charges…" and nobody raised their hand in that entire room.

"And if you believe him to be guilty…?" and the entire room raised their hands. "Very well then, Squall Leonhart, former commander of the Esther Knights, you are to be executed one week from today. This meeting is adjourned.

_"There it is, it's been decided. I…just need to abide by it…right? If that is how it's been decided then I just have to, I've always said that but… I don't know anymore….Rinoa…I wish I could see you just one last time…"_

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Luckily, Rinoa had cast a silence spell on the guard they had just took out guarding the airship or the screams that he would of made after Selphie hit him in his vulnerable point would of alerted the entire Galbadian army to them. There weren't many guards on the airship itself either, and the four of them split up to go deal with them faster. As Rinoa took out the last with her blaster edge, she heard Seifer's voice again just outside the airship, and panicking she hid herself behind a bunch of crates in the corner of the room. She heard Seifer walk in to the room with two other soldiers and she did her best to quiet her breathing.

"I could of sworn I heard a weapon in here sir" one of the soldiers said.

"You paranoid moron, there's nothing here" Seifer said clearly annoyed at his perceived incompetence of his soldiers but then he turned to see the unconscious soldier Rinoa had just knocked out…_ "shit…"_, "well it looks like someone is here after all… you two, search the ship and find the intruders, I'll go get more men"

Rinoa knew that if that were to happen, they would never get the airship so after taking a deep breath, Rinoa loaded her blaster edge and stood up from behind the boxes and said, "That's not going to happen Seifer"

The two soldiers escorting Seifer looked nervous but Seifer just had a big grin on his face and said, "Oh really, well what are you going to do about it?"

"I need this airship, and I'll fight even you to get it" Rinoa said while raising her weapon, preparing for a fight.


	12. Gunblade vs Pinwheel

**Right, here we go again for chapter 11!!! Just a little side tangent beforehand however, I'd just like to thank all my fans and reviewers. When I first came up with the idea for this, I thought I was going to either be bombarded with harsh criticism or completely ignored and well I was wrong. I'm happy to say that since the first chapter was uploaded on July 10****th****, I've had over 1500 hits on my story. I am completely amazed at this and I hope I can continue to meet everyone's expectations. So, let's get on with it then, I'm sure you're as excited as I am ******

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**Chapter 11- Gunblade vs. Pinwheel**

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

Rinoa stood there with her weapon locked and loaded and ready for a fight. From what she remembered, Seifer used a sword like when he fought Squall so if she could maintain distance, she should be fine. She quickly checked her peripherals to get a feel for how much room she had, and to her disappointment, it was a fairly tight fit with crates filling the room. She didn't have much more of a chance then that though because Seifer cut her thoughts off.

"Sure you wanna do this Heartilly?" he mockingly asked with a smug grin on his face.

"Just shut it Seifer!" Rinoa yelled in response as she launched the blaster edge point blank at the seemingly defenceless Seifer and she was sure it would be a direct hit but the sound of steal hitting steal send the blaster edge back to her. Seifer was standing there as if blocking was no effort at all holding the one handed sword she had remembered with something she hadn't known: the sword was actually a gunblade.

"Haha, is that the best you got?" Seifer asked tauntingly.

_"Smug bastard…" _"Pfft… hardly" Rinoa answered back feigning confidence. _"This is bad… really, really bad…"_

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Selphie had just finished taking care of the guards on the bridge on the airship when she decided to head back to meat everyone back at the main hallway. When she got there, only Zell and Irvine were there.

"Where's Rinny?" Selphie asked worried.

"Fuck if I know, I thought she was with you" Zell answered back.

"C'mon guys, I'm worried about her, we should look"

"Saving a damsel in distress is what I do best" Irvine said with a smirk.

"Not the time Irvine now c'mon" Selphie said as she motioned for the two of them to follow.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Rinoa could barely stand, let alone fight now. The fight had taken a turn for the worst when Seifer hit her in the stomach with the blunt side of his gunblade and pulled the trigger, clearly breaking several ribs and causing Rinoa to cough up blood. Dropping to her knees, she had to fight just to maintain consciousness and looking up, she saw Seifer, resting his gunblade on his shoulder with the smirk that never seems to disappear, gloating over his victory

"Finally…" he began as he kicked Rinoa's blaster edge piece far out of her reach, "You put up quite the fight… I think I might be falling for you!" he finished with a roar a laughter.

"Shut…up" was all Rinoa managed to retort before she coughed up more blood.

"Shame you had to go with puberty boy though, I guess it's true what they about good looking women…" Seifer said with almost a hint of jealousy in his voice.

"Wha…tever" Rinoa said mimicking Squall to annoy Seifer.

"He's got you trained well Heartilly, not that it matters, word on the street is saying he's gonna be executed in a week, good riddance I say".

Rinoa couldn't muster up anymore strength to say anything more or fight Seifer off as he came to pick Rinoa up to carry her off the airship. She could hear her heart beat in her head begin to slow as her vision began to fade. Before losing consciousness, she saw a hint of yellow behind a box and with the last of her strength, she managed to whisper, "…save Squall…"

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

They had got there too late, just soon enough to hear Rinoa's last wishes, "save Squall". Seifer quickly joined up with soldiers in the hallway and he dismissed them as he took Rinoa off the airship. Now standing there in silence in the blood smiling room, Zell asked the obvious question, "…the fuck we do now?"

"Dunno…" Irvine replied in a whisper.

"We should do what Rinny wanted, let's go save Squall!" Selphie proclaimed.

"Fuck's the point? Rinoa is gone, Squall is gone, there's no fuckin' point" Zell muttered defeated.

"You two are NOT giving up on me. Look we know else Squall is and Seifer said he was gonna take her home, which is Deling City, and we know where that is. We save Squall, fly to Galbadia and spring Rinny, then we live happily ever after!" Selphie said excited and slightly bouncing.

"Uhh…Sefie, you even know how to fly this thing 'cause I'm sure Zell and I don't?" Irvine asked.

The grin that then sprung on Selphie's face scared Irvine to death and he immediately regretted asking.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Private Wedge had just been assigned to guard the supply ship after the Commander came out with a bleeding girl and told him to. He didn't really want to be there at all but it was sure better than being on the frontlines in Trabia. Counting his blessings he sat on the airship stairs and flicked on his radio, hoping to get something a somewhat decent radio signal. What came on loud and clear was the Presidential Address that aired live last night and everyone was forced to listen.

_"We Galbadian's are at a critical time in our history. The isolationists to the east are threatening our way of life as we know it. They are bloodthirsty fascist dictators that want nothing more than for your children to be learning Estharian while you sing their national anthem! Well, we are not going to stand idly by as they have their way, no! We Galbadian's are a strong people, pure born from Hyne's descendants of old. It is us that shall control them! They shall be singing OUR songs in OUR language. As I speak, your army fights valiantly in southern Trabia trying to break in Esther but alas, even with our surplus of volunteers…"_

_"More like conscripts…" _Wedge thought to himself.

_"…we cannot break through, which is why tonight I am enacting the Military Services Act Phase 2. Men between the ages of 18 to 45 MUST report to the nearest recruitment centre as of tomorrow. Failure to do this will be dealt with swiftly as by running, you are failing your country in its most dire need. So goodnight to you citizens of Galbadia, and remember, the stronger the people, the stronger the state!"_

Wedge flicked his radio off and sighed. He wasn't even Galbadian, he was from Timber and he was forced to fight a war that was not his own. _"Fate sure is cruel sometimes…uh, what's that?"_

The airship began to shake as sounds from the engine were flaring around the camp, drawing everyone's attention. The airship began to leave the ground, with Wedge still sitting on the stairs. Now standing he tried to maintain his balance until he heard a girl's voice from inside yell something like, "Booyaka!" and then the velocity of the airship moving forward sent Wedge plummeting towards the ground.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Squall was now back in his cell, alone. It had been two hours since he got back from the hearing and instead of sitting on the bed; he slouched up against a wall, never looking up. He heard the visor on the cell door slide open and he still didn't look up and only heard, "Visitor for the murderer". He didn't look up until the door opened and a familiar voice sounded in the small prison cell.

"Laguna…."

"Hiya Squall, boy do you look like crap" Laguna said cheerfully in a sad attempt to cheer him up.

"Being on death row has that effect on people…" Squall muttered back.

Laguna sighed and waited a moment like he was carefully choosing his next words, "Squall, I'm working on a plan, gimme six days and I'll have you out of here".

"It's what I deserve Laguna, don't interfere…" Squall said back.

"You can't expect me to just watch as my son gets the death penalty, do you?" Laguna asked, half serious, half pretending to be hurt.

"Your son, pfft… You mean the son you didn't even know even existed because you abandoned his mother and then discovered him by complete accident?" Squall asked as bitter as possible and watched as Laguna's normally cheerful face writhed in pain at those words.

"Squall…I…" Laguna tried to say something but he was at a loss for words.

"Get out Laguna, unless you're Rinoa I don't want ANY more visits got that?" Squall asked in anger.

"Fine… but one thing Squall, I know what I did was wrong but just 'cause you're getting screwed by the system doesn't mean you should take that anger out on me" Laguna said with his back turned towards Squall, pain and sadness drenched on in his every word.

"Whatever…" Squall just managed to mutter and Laguna left him alone again in his prison cell.

_"What the hell is wrong with me? Why do I have to push away anyone who tries to help me?!? Is it because I know he couldn't help? Then why was I such an asshole to him? I…I don't know what to do anymore…I…I'm trying my best. Laguna… I'm sorry…"_

"Laguna!" Squall cried out in vain, hoping that the man who was the closest thing to family he felt he had would come running but of course he didn't.

_"I…can't do this alone…Laguna…Sis…Rinoa, all three of them I've pushed myself away from and for what? Is this what it feels like to lose people? I…it hurts. I wish I had been nicer, I wish I never pushed them away, especially Rinoa. What the hell did she do to deserve someone like me? She's better off without me, I… I just need to get on with it. I have to…do this alone; I have no one left…"_

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

"How far 'till Esther Sefie?" Irvine had to half yell over the roar of the airship.

"Gizmo-thing here is saying 7 hours" Selphie responded.

"We need a fuckin' plan once we're there" Zell chirped in.

"I know, I know, we'll think of something, we have seven hours, right?" Selphie answered.

**///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////**

**I know, I know that was a little on the short end of things but quality of quantity right? No? Alright then, how about good things come to those who wait? Maybe? Perfect, I'll have another one up min a few days, cheers!**


End file.
